A former “Rookie Teacher of the Year” at a Florida middle school who was accused of having sex with a 14-year-old student several times in her car has pleaded guilty to carrying on the depraved relationship.
Brittiny Lopez-Murray, 33, entered the plea Wednesday to multiple charges, including lewd and lascivious battery, lewd and lascivious molestation of a child and electronic transmission harmful to minors, NBC Miami reported.
In exchange, she was sentenced to two years of community control and 10 years of probation, and required to register as a sex offender and attend a program for mental disorder sex offenders, according to the outlet.
Lopez-Murray, whose plea was approved by the victim’s family, didn’t want to comment after her sentencing.
She was a drama teacher at Hialeah Middle School when she was arrested in October 2021.
The teen had been her student when he attended the middle school, but was in high school at the time of the incidents.
Lopez-Murray, who was named “Rookie Teacher of the Year” in 2017, texted the teen two months earlier about “her feelings toward” him, according to a police report.
The teacher and the student exchanged texts detailing “how much they enjoyed the sex with each other,” the report said.
She would sometimes pick him up after basketball practice and then the two would engage in sexual acts in her car, according to officials.
The pair met for coffee, which led to multiple dates where they would have sexual encounters in her car, including in the parking lot of a mall, Crime Online reported.
“The defendant also groomed, enticed, encouraged the victim to send child pornography images by writing things such as, ‘perfect, and yum,’” according to an arrest affidavit cited by the outlet.
Lopez-Murray’s actions were uncovered after the student’s sister saw explicit texts and photos between him and the teacher, the report said.
The boy’s father also found nude photos of Lopez-Murray on his son’s phone.
The disgraced teacher was charged with lewd and lascivious battery, molestation, and engaging in a sexual act with a child.